//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: A Little Boy That Never Grew Up… // Story: Friends and Fairy Tales // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// As Alice and Dorothy walked out of the orchard and onto the dirt path, the orange mare told the yellow Pegasus her adventures. She recalled about her gray life on the Great Plains, and the day that her tinny home was taken up by a cyclone with her in it, also accidently landing on the Wicked Witch of the East in which the Munchkin people were thankful for. Dorothy told her about the Good Witch of the North, and how she was set on the yellow brick road, in which she met a Scarecrow that wanted a brain, a Tin Woodman that wanted a heart, and a lion that wished he had courage. “…. But when we got out of the forest, there was a wide river in our path,” Dorothy explained. “At first, none of us knew what to do until the Scarecrow had an idea of building a raft by having the Tin Woodman cutting some of the trees. So we made a raft that was big enough for all of us to fit on it. Scarecrow tried to steer the raft with a very long stick at first, but I guess it got stuck in the mud when he was suddenly was pulled off the raft, leaving him in the middle of the river.” “Oh dear,” said Alice, “what happened next?” “Well, the Lion had the idea that he could swim to the other side if we held on his tail.” “That must be very uncomfortable for the lion. Cat’s don’t like being pulled by their tails.” “How do you know?” Dorothy tiled her head. “It’s because I have a cat and two kittens at home. The mother is called Dinah, and her children are Snowdrop and Kitty. Such a mischievous creature Kitty is! Dinah has taught Snowdrop to behave, but I’m afraid that Kitty hasn’t been disciplined enough.” The orange mare giggled, “You know, in a way, it’s why that I have a dog. Toto has always been loyal to me, and without having that dog around, than I think I would have no reason to be happy about.” “I think I understand,” Alice nodded, “Oh how I do miss Dinah sometimes when I go out to these strange adventures.” “Do you think we’ll see them again, your kitty cats and my Toto, or our friends and family?” Looking up the path in which cuts through a row of trees, she answered, “I’m not sure myself, but I do think that we will.” “Really?” She nodded, “I think I can see a town over there… and… it looks familiar too.” Dorothy looked over to the pastoral village below, the name of Ponyville came to mind, and “I do… but why?” “I don’t know, maybe we might ask someone from-” Before Alice could finish her suggestion, suddenly there was a cry coming from above them as something blue and covered in leaves fell behind them. Naturally, the two of them jumped away in shock, but quickly turned to curiosity. Hissing on the ground and rubbing its head, was a Pegasus whose coat was as blue as the softest of skies and has the mane and tail of every color of the rainbow. But what was curious to both of the girls, was that the same colorful Pegasus was wearing a suit of leaves and they could clearly see that the only thing that was keeping it together was tree sap. “Ouch!” the pony groaned in a gravely, but still identifiably a lady’s voice. “Are you quite alright?” Alice asked as she offered a hoof to the fallen Pegasus. Ignoring the pain, the pony in leaves quickly stood up, “Yes, I’m fine thank you.” She said before bowing her neck respectively. “I’m not hurt at all, I just… slipped.” “Excuse me,” Dorothy asked, “Why are you covered in leaves?” “What do you mean? They’re my clothes,” as soon as she answered this, the blue pony began to laugh childishly, “Where are your clothes?” For the little Kansas girl, she had no replay and blushed furiously at the question. Alice however, did have an answer, “I don’t believe there’s a rule for ponies or horses to wear clothes, because that would be silly.” “For you, maybe,” the colorful Pegasus said as she spread her wings, “But I’m not a pony. Or at least, I wasn’t one yesterday.” This got both of the girls’ attenuation. “What do you mean?” Dorothy wondered aloud. “Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you who I am, have I? I’m Peter Pan, and I’m not a pony, I’m a boy.” At this, both orange and yellow ponies giggled like mad. Peter however, looked offended, “What’s so funny?” “I do apologize,” Alice said through her laughter, “But, didn’t anyone tell you that you’re a girl like us.” “I’m not a girl!” Peter protested. “I just… happen to look like one is all.” “This is too funny,” Dorothy guffawed, rolling in the grass nearby. “Stop it!” The Pegasus yelled as he flew up to the orange pony, “If you don’t stop it right now, you’ll be sorry!” “Now look here,” Alice went up to Peter, “I’m sorry that we laughed, but that’s no way to talk to anyone, especially to a girl.” “I…” moaning, the leafy pony backed away from Dorothy, “You’re right, and I’m sorry, it’s just I don’t like being laughed at.” “And I’m sorry too,” the American girl said as she got up. “We just weren’t expecting anything like this. We thought that we might be the only ones to have woken up like this.” Peter snapped his attention towards her, “You too?” “Why yes,” Alice nodded, “both of us have woke up this morning as ponies, and having memories that we don’t quite remember having either.” The blue Pegasus looked at one pony, then the other and back again. “Well,” he said finally, “at least I’m not the only one.” “Maybe we should reintroduce each other,” Dorothy suggested, “Good morning, I’m Dorothy Gale. And this is my new friend Alice.” “How do you do,” the English girl said, “and where you might be from?” “Neverland,” Peter answered, in which he got very confused looks. “What?” “I don’t think I’ve heard of Neverland,” Dorothy told him, “Where’s that?” “It’s second to the right, straight on ‘til morning.” Both young girls looked at each other, exchanging a look of confusion before returning to their new friend. “The second to what,” Alice asked. “The stars of course,” Peter scoffed. “I swear, you two are almost like…” He trailed off when he realized that he’d forgotten something. “Wendy.” “Who?” “How could I forgotten!” he cried as his blue wings lifted him in the air. “How could I have forgotten about Wendy?” “I’m sorry, but who is Wendy?” Dorothy asked. “Why,” Peter landed in front of the American girl, “She’s my mother and… I remember now! Before I woke up in this body, Wendy, the Lost Boys and I were battling Pirates in the Mermaid Lagoon. But then… Hook wounded me, and we were stranded on Marooner’s Rock as the tide was rising. The last thing I remember, a kite that Michael made a few days ago flew over to us, and it could carry only one of us. So, I let Wendy go back to the Island from the kite’s tail, leaving me alone while the sea was rising.” It was here, that Peter didn’t say a word for over a minute; Alice asked what was wrong, “Am… Am I dead? Did I drown and not know it?” This was a startling revelation to the two little girls. “That’s funny,” Dorothy said soberly, “The last thing I remember before this morning was that my friends and I were crossing a field of red poppies. I was so sleepy that I just laid down, but, the last thing I’ve heard from my friends was that they had to carry me out because if I stay too long, I would… Oh my,” she gasped, “What if Peter’s right! Are we dead?” “Something’s not right,” Alice said. When the other two asked what she meant, she put a hoof to her chin in thought, “The last thing I remember, I wasn’t in any danger at all, or at least, I don’t believe I was. After all, before I woke up in that cottage of animals, that I had met Humpty Dumpty.” “Humpty Dumpty?” Peter went up to her, “As in the same Humpty Dumpty in the stories that Wendy tells – the one that an egg fell off a wall?” “The same,” the yellow mare’s mood soured, “He was one of the most unsatisfactory persons I’ve ever met!” Before Dorothy could ask about that, all three felt their stomachs roar, demanding that something delicious to be put in their bellies. “Maybe we can talk about this some other time, perhaps we should find something to eat?” The leafy Pegasus hummed, turning his attention towards the village with the towering structure in the center. “Something tells me that we don’t have to go too far. My other memories tell me that there’s a place, and a pony that will give us food.” He looked back with a cocky grin, “How about we go on an adventure?” _*_ Spike was having such a lovely dream. It was the one where he was the strong hero, and his Lady was in the clutches of a cackling monster. Drawing his sword, he mightily hacked and cut through the armed minions as he approached near. He had faced many battles before, of course, but this time proved to be a challenge as he had to use all his strength and wit to even get close to the creature. When he got close enough, he threw his sword at the heart of the beast, thus vanquishing the monster once and for all. Suddenly his Lady was falling, although out of breath, he ran as fast as he could to catch the beauty from her death. Before hitting the ground, Spike the Brave caught her just in time! “Are you okay, milady?” he asked. She lifted her vale, to reveal the heavenly marvel that hid beneath, with a wide smile, the white mare said, “Now that you are here, I am in safe hooves. Thank you good sir,” she leaned forward towards his face. Spike had waited this moment for all his life, and he was prepared to receive her gift. So leaning forward towards those soft lips, he- “SPIKE!!!” a voice shook out of the dragon’s dream like an earthquake. Waking up from the sheer shock of hearing Twilight’s scream knocked him off of his bed and onto the crystalline floor. Before he could ask the question of what was happening, there was a flash, and the Princess of Friendship, with her mane curling and an eye twitching appeared before him. “Twi? What’s going on?” His answer came as he was picked up off the ground and was met face to face with the violet alicorn demanded, “Where are they?” “Huh?” Another flash later, Spike found himself in the castle’s lab, which looked like Discord came in and turned the room upside-down and back again. “The books,” she said, pointing towards the table. “The ones I was studying yesterday are gone. I last saw them on that very table. If I remember right, you were here to get some cardboard boxes to be mailed. Therefore, only you could have known where those seven books have gone to, so where are they?” Spike blinked, “What are you talking about? You didn’t tell me that you were studying a bunch of books. I didn’t know they were in here to begin… wait,” he put a claw to his chin, “unless…” “Yes,” Twilight hissed through her teeth. “Spike, what are you unlessing?” “Uh… I may or may not have accidentally have bumped into that table while I was carrying all those books to be sent out to your friends and I quickly had to reorganize the piles that were knocked onto it.” He said, finishing with a sheepish smile. Twilight let the purple and green dragon go, “Not good.” “What? What’s not good?” “Spike, those seven books came from the human world, in which Sunset Shimmer had found to be enchanted by the wild magic that’s going on over there. The worst part is that I have no idea how powerful those books are nor have a clue what they even do!” “Hey, calm down Twi,” Spike said as he got back up, “who’s to say that the girls have even touched those, or even have one? Maybe a good chunk of them are just lying around somewhere with one of the girls.” “Which is why we need to find them,” another strand of hair curled upward, “Maybe we should start with Pinkie Pie’s, she’s the closest.” “Oh I see, start from the center and work your way-” whatever Spike was going to say was cut off with a knock on the castle door. Curious, Twilight and Spike went to the front entrance and opened the door to find Mr. and Mrs. Cake there. “Oh thank goodness you’re here,” the stallion said, “Princess Twilight, we need your help.” “What’s the matter?” “It’s Pinkie,” the blue mare beside him answered, “she’s acting stranger than usual. She’s been talking nonsense all morning and-” “What’s weird about that?” the little drake questioned, “I mean, what are she doing defiantly then Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie?” “She’s making candy and really weird food,” Mr. Cake said. “Ever since we’ve found her in the kitchen this morning, she keeps calling herself, Mr. Willy Wonka.”